Alumna represents UK at UNAlumna represents UK at UN

UEA alumna Takyiwa Danso has spent the last week representing the country’s young people at the United Nations in New York. She accompanied the International Development Secretary, Priti Patel, after beating hundreds of other applicants to join the UK delegation.

The former international development student will attend events focusing on tackling extreme poverty, boosting women’s economic empowerment and strengthening global security. She will demonstrate first hand to world leaders at the Summit the power of including young people in the decision making process.

Takyiwa has previously volunteering in Kenya with the International Citizens Service programme, supported by UK Aid. In addition, she travelled to Paris last December to participate in the COP21 climate change negotiations.

She said, “Young people are part of the solution to tackling the biggest development issues. We’re not here to judge or blame the other generation, we just want to get on with it and lead the way to create a better society for our future generation – world leaders just need to give us the space to do so.”

During her time at UEA she studied Environmental Science and International development. She said that her degree gave her the “context and theoretical knowledge” necessary for her future career.

During her time in Norwich she volunteered to empower children, as well as working with refugees and migrants. She recommended that new students “enjoy it, and be open. Join societies, and use the services available. I wish I did more in first year, and had seen all that was available to me.”